Mainframe E-mail Troubleshooting

1. Question: When I try to read my mail, it tells me my disk is full. What can I do?
   Answer: This is really the same problem as the next question - so read the *long* answer in the next item.

2. Question:I try to discard mail, but it is still there.
   Answer:This is a long answer, I'm afraid!

   If you keep a lot of electronic letters on your disk, or if you have other disk files stored on the mainframe, you may eventually fill your mainframe disk to the point where managing mail becomes difficult. When you try to browse through your mail you will see a message telling you that your disk is full, and when you try to discard a letter, the letter is still there next time you read mail. This problem is due to limited disk space and the longer you let the problem go, the worse it gets (more and more mail accumulates!).

   To understand the solution to this problem you need a "picture" of why it is happening in the first place. Mail can arrive at any time of the night or day over the network. It is stored in a "holding" area until you ask to read it. When you log on and browse your mail, the system retrieves all of your new mail from the holding area and adds it to any old mail you had previously received and kept in your "inbox." Your "inbox" is simply a disk file in your mainframe disk space called NEW LOG A.

   If there is not enough space on your disk to store the new version of your "inbox" containing the combined old and new mail, you will be told that there is a disk full problem. If you then quit from browsing mail, some or all of the new mail will remain in the holding area. Next time you browse mail, those same letters will show up even if you had discarded them before - simply because the system had not had enough disk space to save your revised "inbox" or NEW LOG A file.

   Clearly, the ultimate, long term solution to this dilemma is to keep enough free disk space to handle incoming mail. However, we need a solution for the problem right now, and it may be that there is so much mail accumulated in the holding area that no amount of clearing of disk space will help! (Or it may be that someone has sent you one extremely large letter which is simply too big to be accomodated.)

   One solution is to ask UNET for some additional disk space. We charge a small amount each month for additional space - you should get in touch with Shawn O'Brien (shawn@maine, 581-3556) for details. Normally, people have one cylinder of disk space. Shawn can add a second cylinder to effectively double your space.

   If you do not want to spend money on disk space here are some other approaches to use.

   You can view your list of disk files and erase ones you don't want by selecting "Working with Files" in the "Main Folder" or menu. In the Files submenu, select "Filelist of Personal Files" (or if you don't use the menus, simply type: filelist). You will see a display of all the disk files in your personal space. Among them will be NEW LOG, your "inbox." You can erase (permanently! Watch out!) any file by moving your cursor next to the file's name in the left-hand column, and typing

    erase

   and pressing enter. Again - watch out! There is no "undelete" command! You can also use this display to see the contents of a file in case you have forgotten what's in it - type

    show 

   next to the file's name and press enter. Press F3 to quit from show. Press F3 also to quit from the filelist display.

   Let's assume you simply cannot erase enough files to relieve your disk full problem with mail. You have several alternatives. One is to read mail directly from the holding area. When you do this, you do not involve your personal disk space or your inbox. You can still reply, print, forward, etc. The advantage is that you can discard mail successfully. The drawback is that you don't have the nice mail browse display that makes dealing with mail so convenient.

   To see a list of all your mail in the holding area, type

    query mail all 

   This is a CMS command and is not in the menus. If necessary, you can exit from the menus using F12. This query command will list all the holding area letters in a very plain format. You cannot see the subject line, but you see the sender and how large the letter is (in the "Records" column). Each letter has a 4-digit id. You read one of those letters by typing:

    mail r nnnn 

   where "nnnn" is the letter's 4-digit id. This allows you to read, reply, forward, print, log and (especially!) discard the letter. Using the query and mail commands you can deal with all your new mail, one letter at a time.

   Now suppose you have a massive amount of letters in the holding area and do not want to painfully go through them one at a time as described above. There is a series of CMS commands you can use to get some temporary disk space and deal with mail there. However, if you use these commands you will run the risk of losing your mail. Please use the following AT YOUR OWN RISK! These commands bypass our safeguards that prevent mail loss!

   If you use the menus, exit by pressing F12. This gives you a command line at the bottom of the screen where you can type these commands. Type

    getdisk 199 x A (CYLS

   and press enter. The "x" should be replaced by a number which is your estimate of how much disk space you need to handle all your mail. I suggest you use 3 or 4 (the size of most people's normal disk is 1).

   When the "ready" message comes back from the getdisk command, type:

    access 191 k

   where "k" can actually BE k or any other letter that you are not currently using for a disk. This command assigns the letter "k" (or whatever you use) to your normal personal disk. The getdisk command has "stolen" the letter A for use by the temp disk.

   After the "ready" message, type:

    copy new log k new log a

   
   This copies your "inbox" from your personal disk (currently called K) to your temp disk (A). Pay attention to the disk letters here and do not get them mixed up.

   Now browse your mail by typing:

    mail browse 

   You will see all your old and new mail without the pesky disk full message. You are using the temp disk for your mail. Try to discard as much as possible of the mail. You really must reduce the size of the inbox to below its previous levels. That probably means discarding all the new mail and a lot of the old mail. You can, of course, do the usual replies, forwards, prints, etc. You should stay away from the "Log" option because that creates disk files out of the logged mail. These disk files will be stored on the temporary disk and will be deleted when you log off. When you have cleared away the mail, press F3 to quit from browsing mail.

   You now have a slimmer version of your "inbox" on the temporary disk and the old version is still on your personal (K) disk. You should now get rid of the old version, then copy the new version onto your personal disk. Again, pay attention here to the disk letters. If you make a mistake you can lose your mail. Type:

     erase new log k

   (please note the K - remember right now, the K disk is your personal disk, so we are erasing the OLD version of your "inbox.")

   Then type:

     copy new log a new log k

   (This copies the slim "inbox" from the A (temporary) disk to your K (permanent personal) disk.

   At this point, you are all done. If you logoff and log back on, the temp disk will be gone and your personal disk will have its normal A letter back. Again please be aware that the above set of steps should only be used when you are in dire straits, because you are bypassing our safeguards. If the commands get messed up or our mainframe goes down while you are doing these steps you will lose mail.

   If you need these instructions explained in more detail, please get in touch with the UNET consultants. You can send e-mail to: support@maine.edu or phone 581-3524.